Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Economic development and tourism budgets show lower Riverwalk incentives, small tourism increase
Summary
Economic development staff projected a $73,000 budget decrease and said Riverwalk developer incentives declined, while the marketing director requested a modest increase to expand the city's digital footprint and marketing functions.
Hoover's economic development and tourism presentations covered a variety of items including a projected $73,000 decrease in economic-development budget, a larger drop in Riverwalk funding tied to reduced developer incentives, and a request by the city's marketing director for a modest increase to expand marketing capacity.
Economic development staff said the department's operating decrease stems from reduced need for consultant studies this fiscal year. For the Riverwalk account, staff reported a $655,000 decrease tied to the developer-incentive scale moving from 3 to 2 and noted a reimbursement arrangement with the developer Alador that will cover two-thirds of current cleaning costs (approximately $48,000 in cleaning costs, with two-thirds reimbursed by Alador).
The citywide marketing director described progress in a first year on the job and asked for a slightly above 5% increase (from $117,000 to approximately $123,000) to expand digital advertising, content creation and citywide promotional efforts, including a YouTube series and a digital annual report. The director said increased funding would help support tourism, economic development and recruitment initiatives and would be adaptable to the incoming administration's strategic direction.
Council asked about current tourism spending and the marketing director confirmed last year's budget was $117,000; the director said the request would raise it to about $123,000. No formal votes were taken; the items will be considered in the overall budget process.
